Graphics are used in textbooks as part of the language of the discipline, as in math or economics, or as study aids. Authors use graphic aids to illustrate and expand on concepts taken up in the text because graphics are yet another way of portraying relationships and clarifying connections. Graphics are used extensively in natural sciences and social sciences. Social scientists work with statistics derived from data, and the best way to present these statistics is often in graphic form. Graphics are included not merely as a means of making the information easier for the student to grasp, but as an integral part of the way social scientists think. Many textbooks, particularly those in economics, contain appendixes that provide specific information on reading and working with graphic material. Make it a practice to preview attentively the titles, captions, headings, and other material connected with graphics. These elements set the stage and usually explain what you are looking at. When you are examining graphics, the principal questions to ask are (a) What is this items about? And (b) What key idea is the author communicating. One warning: Unless you integrate your reading of graphics with the text, you may make a wrong assumption. For instance, from a chart indicating that 33 percent of firstborn children in a research sample did not feel close to their fathers, you might assume that some dreadful influence was at work on the firstborn children. However, a careful reading of the text reveals that most of the firstborn children in the sample were from single-parent homes in which the father was absent.

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